Roadmap to include Windows 8 developers from other countries/regions not listed in the Marketplace

Question

Hi All,

I understand questions relating to some countries not already listed as Windows developers submission regions have already been answered, but I would appreciate if we could get some clear indication like a roadmap on how Microsoft plans to expand the apps market place to include other countries.

There are quite a number of developers (myself included) from other countries who have already dedicated time and effort in developing Windows 8 metro apps and we would appreciate some official message from Microsoft on the plan to integrate our countries to the marketplace.

My suggestion to Microsoft is to open the marketplace to developers from all countries at the very start. The success of the Windows 8 concept is heavily tied to the rate of developer adoption and the number of apps available for purchase and MS should not restrict itself by artifically excluding some developers.

If the issue is local currency integration, MS can actually require developers from the smaller regions to use a global current like the dollars instead. This will enable a quicker integration of the "other" countries.

Cheers.

Greg

Answer 1

Hi Greg,

Thank you for your interest in developing apps for submission to the Windows Store. We recognize the frustration at having submission during this pre-release phase limited by invitation and open to certain markets. We are working with this set of developers to test our model and validate our services, and we have every ambition and intention to grow as quickly as possible. We also see that people have gone down the registration path without realizing these conditions, and we're going to provide clearer information up front to avoid that additional frustration. In addition, more pre-release registration codes will be made available through our dev camps. You can check here http://www.devcamps.ms/ later this month for Windows dev camp registration information.

Thanks,
Jesse

Answer 2

Thanks Jesse,

I appreciate the clarifications. I am really excited to be associated with the Windows 8 ecosystem and I cant wait to be able to develop and sell my apps to the windows world.

Greg